Literature on the various types of pressurization systems, stair use during evacuation, and code requirements was reviewed and summarized. Non-fire and fire tests were conducted in the 10-story experimental fire tower of the National Fire Laboratory of the National Research Council of Canada. The flow resistances of an open stair door at various angles were measured. Under fire conditions, the vertical profiles of pressure differences across the stairshaft wall and those of the velocity pressure at the stair door opening were measured.
Going against the conventional wisdom, a builder in Colorado built-and sold more than 700 extra-energy-efficient homes. The homes' owners now spend half as much on space heating as their neighbors do.
Mass transfer due to pressure-driven air flow is one of the most important processes for determining both environmental quality and energy requirements in buildings. Heat, moisture, and contaminants are all transported by air movement between indoors and outdoors as well as between different zones within a building. Measurement of these air flows are critical to understanding the performance of buildings. Virtually all measurements of ventilation are made using the dilution of a tracer gas. The vast ma,jority of such measurements have been made in a single zone, using a single tracer gas.
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